Being Human
The Forgotten Path to Exceptional Leadership
By Robin Martin & Jennifer Tankersley
We are living through one of the most disruptive leadership moments in modern history.
AI is accelerating. Complexity is intensifying. Work is moving faster than the human systems designed to support it. Leaders are being asked to create clarity, trust, resilience, innovation, and performance in conditions that rarely slow down.
The data tells part of the story. Employee engagement remains low. Managers are under strain. The pace of work is outpacing people's capacity to think clearly, connect deeply, and recover fully. It is a leadership invitation to become more fully human in the way we lead.
Leadership is shaped by how we are.
For decades, leadership has been taught largely as a set of competencies: strategy, execution, influence, communication, decision-making, and results. All of these still matter. But they are no longer enough on their own.
How we show up under pressure. How we regulate our energy. How we use our voice. How we build trust. How we make meaning in uncertainty. How we stay connected to ourselves, to others, and to what matters most when complexity is high.
Leadership does not happen apart from the person. It moves through the person.
Being Human: The Forgotten Path to Exceptional Leadership explores the human capacities leaders need now.
This is not a call to step away from ambition, performance, or results. It is a call to remember the human foundation that makes exceptional leadership possible and sustainable.
The leaders who will shape the future are not simply those with the best plans, the strongest expertise, or the highest tolerance for pressure. They are the ones who can stay grounded in complexity, access wisdom under pressure, build trust across difference, and create the conditions where people can think clearly, contribute fully, and adapt together.
This book invites leaders to return to the capacities that have too often been treated as secondary to performance, but are now essential to it.
Readers will explore how to:
Build presence amid distraction, pressure and complexity.
Strengthen resilience without confusing it with endless endurance.
Regulate energy so clarity, creativity, and connection remain available.
Access deeper discernment in a world moving faster than certainty.
Create the conditions where trust, contribution, and collective intelligence can grow.
Lead with meaning, purpose, and agency in a time of profound change.
This book is for leaders navigating scale, change, complexity, or reinvention, and for anyone who senses that the next level of leadership will not come from another tool, tactic, or productivity hack.
It is for leaders who want to perform without losing themselves, grow without becoming depleted, and create environments where people can do their best thinking and their most meaningful work.